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Willow
Willow was one of the original characters, who spent most of her time in the pack serving the position of Healer. She was a stocky dark brown wolf with some lighter highlights on her chin and underbelly, and dark green eyes. Pre-series Willow, along with two sisters, was born to Sky and a male whose name is unknown. Though one of her sisters died when they were very young - so young that they had had yet to be named - Willow, always a sturdy pup, survived, along with her sister, Sea, and friends so close she considered them to be littermates: Snowflake, Timber, and Ivy. Willow took on a role of responsibility from a very young age; she felt that, aside from Sky, she was the only factor keeping the rest of the pups from simply running wild and likely getting killed. Whether this perception is true or not is not entirely known, but Willow certainly believed it was, and became something of a "second mother" to the rest of the pups. Book One Willow showed her self-assigned role in the pack - though they then considered themselves to be more of a "family" - from the very beginning, when she put up a strong argument to Sea's idea of wandering the forest. She lost, as Sea decided to go off on her own and Willow thought she should at least have someone watching her. It turned out that she was right about the forest - that it was much too dangerous for them to explore without Sky's guidance. They had made it little more than a mile away from the cave when they were confronted by Darkwood Alphess Shade. Sky soon came to their defense, but by then it was too late; Darkwood knew of the pack's existence, and was prepared to slaughter them as they had many other packs. Granted one chance to flee - not because of mercy but because, as Shade said, it was fun - Sky took them back to the cave in which they had been living and told them to wait for her there. They did, for a very long time, with Sky not turning up; finally, Willow was talked into going to check on her. Reluctantly - she had faith in Sky's abilities - Willow did, tracking the adult's fresh scent, and then found her dead. For this reason, or maybe simply due to her personality, Willow took Sky's death harder than anyone else. They were focused on survival, and for the most part all of them didn't speak of their guardian's death, or openly grieve her; instead, they grieved internally while focusing on making it to safety. Willow did the same, but she nevertheless showed much damage, and suffered from frequent nightmares. The only thing that could prevent this was comfort from Timber, who she was developing very strong feelings for. When the pack split up, she chose to go with him and Snowflake, and during this time finally began to recover - she even reached some moments where she forgot everything she was worrying about. When they reached the valley, Willow was entirely content. When Pine arrived in their pack, Willow took on the role of healer for the first time, treating the wounds that he had sustained; she showed a strong talent for it. She was also the first to converse with the newly arrived male (aside from his short conversation with Snowflake), but left when Snowflake came to talk to him. From there, she encountered Timber in the forest, who told her to meet him by the river at sunset. Willow did, and the two engaged in a long discussion, the end result being that they officially decided that they were mates. It was a blissful moment, but did not last long, as Willow heard her sister cry for help. She and Timber raced to her aid and found her bleeding and unconscious, approached by three rogue wolves. Timber sent Willow for help, and she ran a short distance away before howling to call the rest of her pack (minus the injured Pine). A battle against the rogues pursued. The battle was rough on Willow, who had never been a good fighter, but she managed to hold her own; when offered the chance to surrender, she never even considered it. She did not kill during the battle, although she did help in wounding one wolf so badly that they did die, and made no attempt to stop it. The battle had little effect on her, even afterwards, as her entire focus went to saving Sea, who had been hurt very badly. She took her sister to a cave separate from their sleeping place to heal her, and there she stayed, and did not leave until Sea woke up - the same night she was informed that Timber had been killed. Willow, always a very sensitive type, was crushed by the death of her newfound mate. She was stuck in her own mind, refusing to move on as the rest of her pack did. She finally decided to visit the river where they had first confessed their feelings for each other, and because she felt like she could not do it alone, asked Sea to come with her. Sea did, and the two of them sat there together at sunset. They were still there when Timber appeared to them, translucent and incorporeal. He talked to both of them, telling them that he would soon be passing on to the Luporum afterlife, but that he had wanted to see them before passing on. He told them not to grieve too much, that they should be happy. He was then escorted off by Sky. Willow, still grieving, turned away and went to sit by the river; however, before she had any time to think seriously about it, she was shoved in by Sea. She resurfaced annoyed, but the sight of her sister, who had collapsed in laughter at the bank, got to her. By the time she made it to her side, she was laughing as well.